Nick Leeson's jacket raises £21,000

A trading jacket that was purportedly worn by rogue trader Nick Leeson was sold for £21,000 today.

It has been bought by Paul Taylor, who runs an investment fund backed by the Gulf state of Qatar.

Mr Leeson is thought to have sported the stripey jacket, which has "Nick" embroidered on the inside pocket, during his time at Barings Bank.

It was auctioned by KPMG, the liquidator of Barings, which went bankrupt in 1995 after he ran up losses of $1.4bn (£709m) through derivatives trading.

"The jacket was purported (by former staff at Barings) to have been worn by Nick Leeson during his time at Barings. The jacket was stored for some years after the Barings collapse with the jackets of the other Barings SIMEX personnel, which are also in KPMG's possession," the accountancy firm said.

The jacket was also placed on eBay, where it attracted six offers but the top bid of £16,100 wasn't enough to meet its reserve price.

The £21,000 will be added to the funds that KPMG is collecting to return to creditors of Barings.

Mr Leeson spent three-and-a-half years in a Singaporean prison following the collapse of the merchant bank. He is now general manager of Galway United, and has been credited with turning around the fortunes of the Irish football team.

Last month, he suggested he might return to full-time trading. "You wouldn't believe how many people have asked me to manage their money," he said at the time.

Mr Taylor took a 1% stake in J Sainsbury in Feburary, on behalf of his Qatari backers. His Three Delta fund paid £1.4bn last year for healthcare group Four Seasons. He previously worked closely with property tycoons Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz.